1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hidden type hood gas lifter device, and more particularly, to a hidden type hood gas lifter device, which can make a gas lifter installed in a narrow space of a lower portion of a fender panel and improve maintenance in an engine compartment and degree of freedom on layout by making an operation force of the gas lifter transferred to a hood hinge through a gear portion installed between connecting links.
2. Description of Related Art
Presently, in some high-class vehicles, a hidden type hood gas lifter device has been introduced to protect pedestrians and to secure maintenance in an engine compartment.
FIG. 1A is a perspective view illustrating an example of a conventional hidden type hood gas lifter device mounted on a vehicle, and FIG. 1B is a detail view of the hidden type hood gas lifter device illustrated in FIG. 1A.
As illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the conventional hidden type hood gas lifter device includes a gas lifter 10 reciprocating in forward and backward directions by gas pressure, and a hood hinge portion 30 connected to the gas lifter 10 by a bracket 20 to guide opening and closing of a hood through a hinge arm 34 via a series of connecting links 31, 32, and 33.
In the above described structure, the gas lifter 10 is installed inside a movement space (i.e. space A in FIG. 1A) which is secured in a lower portion of a fender panel (not illustrated) positioned on the side of the hood. Accordingly, the gas lifter 10 is not exposed to an inside of an engine compartment space positioned in a lower portion of the hood, and freely moves within the movement space A.
The conventional hidden type hood hinge structure as described above changes the direction of the gas lifter through a typical four-bar link, and transfers a simple operating force to open/close the hood.
In the four-bar link hood hinge structure as illustrated in FIG. 1B, the operating direction of the respective connecting links should be opposite to the operating direction of the connecting link hinge portion, and thus it is difficult to select the layout of the gas lifter 10 and the connecting links 31, 32, and 33 connected to the gas lifter 10.
Also, since the operation of the hood hinge structure is limited to the simple force transfer and the change of the force transfer types (e.g. rotating force □ output □ rotating force), it is difficult to select the whole layout and to increase the moment.
In addition, since the components constituting the hood hinge structure are manufactured by casting, it is difficult to manufacture them, and the manufacturing cost becomes high.
On the other hand, most hood gas lifter devices mounted on vehicles are open type gas lifter devices in which the gas lifter 10 is provided in a position B that is inside the engine compartment in a lower portion of the hood 40 as illustrated in FIG. 2.
In the case of the open type gas lifter device as described above, however, it becomes difficult to secure the maintenance in the engine compartment when the hood 40 is open, the degree of freedom on the layout in the engine compartment deteriorates, and the protection of pedestrians becomes weakened.
In order to apply the hidden type hood gas lifter device to a general vehicle to overcome the above described drawbacks, it is required to sufficiently secure a space for the moving distance of the gas lifter in the lower portion of the fender panel from the viewpoint of the vehicle layout. However, since wirings or other collision members are mostly positioned in the corresponding part, the space for the moving distance of the gas lifter cannot be secured, and thus it is impossible to install the gas lifter therein.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.